Sunday, February 7, 2016

This visualisation, comprised of imagery from the geostationary
satellites of EUMETSAT, NOAA and the JMA, shows an entire year of
weather across the globe during 2015, with audio commentary from Mark
Higgins, Training Manager at EUMETSAT.

Another
year of wild weather is behind us. But thanks to EUMETSAT, you can now
relive it in amazing high-definition video from space.

The new visualization uses geostationary satellite data from
EUMETSAT, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration to stitch together 365 days of data into one
stunning highlight reel of 2015’s weather.

And what a year it was. You’ll definitely want to keep your eye on the tropics throughout the animation as the northern hemisphere set a record for the most major tropical cyclones to form in a year.

Around the 6:30 mark, you can see the evolution of Hurricane Joaquin,
the strongest Atlantic hurricane of 2015. It went from a tropical
depression in late September to a Category 4 storm that battered the
Bahamas and menaced the East Coast before steering all the way across
the Atlantic and plowing into the U.K.

The transition of Hurricane Joaquin near the Bahamas to an extratropical storm that hit the U.K.Hurricane Patricia
became the strongest hurricane ever recorded in October and at the 6:55
mark, you can see it quickly slam into Mexico’s west coast before
heading inland to inundate parts of Texas.

But beyond the highlights, there’s also yearly the ebb and flow of weather on our fair planet. During the southern Amazon’s rainy season,
which last from December-April, you can see clouds pop up almost daily
to spread rains across the region.
Clouds become far less plentiful
during the region’s dry season.

And more broadly, you can see weather patterns flow across continents
and oceans.
Today’s storm in the Southeast U.S. is next week’s rain in
Spain.
By putting together a global view of our planet, EUMETSAT’s video
shows how our atmosphere is the common tie that binds humanity
together.There have been a few things updated since last year’s version.
For one, EUMETSAT has cranked the resolution to 4K for truly epic
detail.
And more importantly, the quality of satellites in space has
improved.Both Japan and EUMETSAT launched new satellites last year that have higher resolutions than their predecessors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to launch a new high resolution geostationary satellite this year, adding even more detailed coverage of the planet.That’s
good news if you want an even sharper 4K experience or improved
forecasts.And if you want both, well, then life is really good.